Coin Collecting Terms and Meanings | Coin Collecting Supplies

Coin Collecting Terms

Coin Collecting, like any hobby, has a language of its own spoken by its practitioners and students. The basic coin collecting terminology and numismatic terms likely to cause the most difficulty for both the novice and the advanced collector are included in this glossary.

Coin Collecting Terms (A)

accolated, conjoined, jugate ...
Design with two heads facing the same direction and overlapping.

accumulation ...
Coins, tokens, etc., unsorted, unclassified, and unattributed; not a collection.

adjustment ...
Filing down the face of an overweight planchet. Such filing marks often survive the coining process. This is common on 18th century coins.

aes grave ...
Cast bronze issue of the Roman republic; literally "heavy bronze."

aes rude ...
Large cast rectangular bronze coin, one of the earliest Roman coins.

alloy ...
Mixture of more than one metal.

altered ...
A coin or other numismatic item that has been deliberately changed, usually to make it resemble a rare or more valuable piece.

American Arts Gold Medallions ...
A series of 1ounce and half-ounce gold bullion medals issued by the U.S. Mint from 1980-84. Medals depict great American artists, writers and actors. See also medallion.

American Eagle ...
Bullion coins released by the U.S. Mint beginning in October 1986. Five coins are available: a 1-ounce, .999 fine silver coin with $1 face value; a 1-ounce, .9167 fine gold coin with $50 face value; a half-ounce, .9167 fine gold coin with $25 face value; a quarter-ounce, .9167 fine gold coin with $10 face value; and a tenth-ounce, .9167 fine gold coin with $5 face value. Coins are sold at prices based on current metal prices plus a markup. See also eagle.

ancient coin ...
Generally any coin issued before A.D. 500.

anneal ...
To soften dies, planchets or metal by heat treatment.

ant nose ...
Primitive copper money of China ca. 600 B.C.

as ...
(Plural: asses) Bronze or orichalcum coins of the Roman republic.

assay ...
Analytic test or trial to ascertain the fineness, weight and consistency of precious or other metal in coin or bullion. An assay piece is one that has been assayed.

attribution ...
The identification of a numismatic item by characteristics such as issuing authority, date or period, Mint, denomination, metal in which struck, and by a standard reference.

auction ...
Method of selling by which items are presented for sale to the highest bidder.

authentication ...
Authoritative determination of the genuineness of a numismatic item.